A Christmas Gift
by lili1988
Summary: Brennan and Booth spending their first Christmas with their family - a quiet Christmas it isn't! :) T for a few cheeky references but nothing overly unsavoury
1. Prologue

**Hi All! Well this is my take on B&B's first Xmas as a family! It's not 100% cannon but I like my twist and I hope you do too :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own bones!**

Seeley Booth had always loved Christmas and this year it would be the best for a very long time. It was  
his first Christmas with his beautiful daughter Christine and the woman he  
loved the amazing Temperance Brennan and to his pure delight his son Parker would  
be joining them. Parker's mother Rebecca's latest boyfriend had decided she was  
going to stay with his family and they would be gone for six weeks and Parker  
was not invited, although he knew Parker was upset with his mother about this  
and Booth himself was furious at Rebecca's selfish behaviour - he was overjoyed  
Parker would be there with him on Christmas morning.


	2. December 1st

"Booth please be careful! You'll break something"  
After much fiddling the front door of the Brennan-Booth home flew open and Booth staggered in weighed down by Dozens of bags of Christmas decorations, behind him Parker entered, his back pack in one hand and three huge bags in the other. Finally Brennan entered carrying Christine in her car seat, her purse and diaper bag slung over her shoulder and yet more shopping bags in her free hand.

"Booth, did we really need all of this? We've spent over 600 dollars on decorations alone"

"Oh come on Bones" Parker jumped around excitedly "It's our first Christmas as a family we need lots of decorations!" Brennan's grumpy resolve vanished at Parker's goofy grin that reminded her so much of his father.  
"Oh ok I suppose you are correct Parker, but I will point out that we don't actually have a tree yet!"  
Now it was Booth's turn for the goofy grin,  
"Oh don't worry about that, that's mans work isn't son?" Parker high fived his father.

"Yeah! We'll bring a Christmas tree home for you Bones, just like we did before"

Brennan smiled at the memory of when her father had been incarcerated and as they has been unable to have a Christmas tree how Booth and Parker has brought a tree to them outside of the prison fences. Christine grizzled in her car seat and Brennan's maternal instincts took over,

"Before you go anywhere, we'll have lunch, you must be hungry Parker, Booth there is some soup on the stove can you heat it up please and put some in the baby food processor for Christine. Parker will you lay the table please whilst I change your sisters diaper" walking to the changer that sat in the corner of the room she pressed the play button of the answer machine, which had a flashing '2' on the screen the messages played, the familiar voice of Booths grandfather 'Pops' filled the room.

"Hey Shrimp, it's me, hope you don't mind but I was thinking of coming to stay with you over Christmas this place is going to be boring as hell. Give me a call ok. Bye." Parker and Booth swapped smiles, Brennan addressed her infant daughter, although she still found it strange having a conversation with a child who was not physically capable of talking, but she knew that anthropologically it was essential to good development.  
"Did you hear that Christine? Hank is coming to spend Christmas with us"  
A long beep signalled the beginning of the next message, this time, Max, Brennan's father's voice filled the room "Hey Tempe, tell Christine thanks for the invite, I'd love to spend Christmas with you, her, Booth and Parker, see you Monday sweetie, love you, bye"  
Booth gave a smile of triumph "I told you your dad would love the Christmas dinner invite from his granddaughter"  
"I agree the personalised card with her hand prints was very cute but it took me three washes to get all the paint out of my hair"  
Parker laughed as he placed a plate of bread rolls on the table and sat down next to his sister's high chair,  
"Dad can I help feed Christine please?"  
"Of course you can son, but I promise you now, afterwards it will be you washing stuff out of your hair"

And with this the Brennan-Booth clan sat down to eat.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed xxx**


	3. December 7th

Angela and Brennan sat in the small cafe of the Play-days family centre sipping their coffees and discussing  
the events of that mornings mother and baby group.

"I tell you Angela I see no anthropological benefit to mother and child  
yoga"

Angela shook her head trying to forget about the disastrous class,

"you're telling me at least Chrissy" Brennan cringed at the nickname  
"Sorry Sweetie, Christine, isn't mobile yet, Michael plain crawled off at  
one point!"

They both looked at the little boy who sat in a high chair next to Christine,  
he was happily dismantling his sandwich, licking the butter off the bread,  
eating the filling and leaving the bread, next to him Christine sat banging her  
plastic spoon on the tray happily, Brennan had left half a yogurt and the spoon  
on the tray to encourage Christine to feed herself, the spoon was spotlessly  
clean. The tray, Christine's face and hands though were covered in yogurt! The  
two mothers sighed looking at their offspring and the mess they were making.

"Are we still taking the children to see Santa Claus on Saturday?"

"Definitely! I think Hodgins is more excited than Michael!"

"Oh Booth is the same he cannot wait to take Christine and Parker and must  
admit I myself am quite excited, I never understood the mythology of Father  
Christmas until becoming a mother."

"Wow Bren you are finally becoming a normal human being!" Brennan  
looked at Angela steadily

"I get the feeling you are being ironic" Angela laughed before  
looking at her friend.

"Sweetie what are you guys doing on Christmas day?"

"We're spending Christmas day with Hank and my Dad why?"

"Hodgins' family want us to go to some horrendously dull Christmas banquet  
and my dad's away on tour, could we come to you for Christmas day please? We  
need an excuse to get out of Christmas at the yawn factory and I'd hate to lie  
to them"

Brennan smiled "I think that would be a splendid idea Angela! You can come  
in the morning and we can exchange gifts and then in the afternoon we can have  
lunch together, Parker will love it he thinks you and Hodgin's are  
wonderful!"

"Awww what a sweetheart! Wait don't you want to check this out with Booth  
first?"

"I don't see why he should have a problem with it, I am the one  
cooking" Angela laughed lightly,

"Ok you're definitely in charge then" the two women chuckled  
conspiratorially and began tidying up the messy trail left by their children.

Meanwhile at the FBI HQ Booth was heading down to see Sweets about a profile  
the young psychologist had created on a current suspect. He poked his head  
around the door of the small yet homely office.

"Sweets buddy you got a minute?"

Sweets was deeply immersed in a phone conversation but beckoned his friend into  
the room, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"I don't know yet Daisy!... Look I'm not sure if I feel comfortable  
spending Christmas at your parents house... Of course I like your parents...  
I'm just not sure I want your dad to get drunk and question my sexuality  
again... No I wasn't joking about that... No I'm not mad at you for not  
realising... Look, look, Agent Booth's here I have work to do... Ok... I love  
you too... Bye" he snapped the phone shut and collapsed onto his  
shrink-sofa groaning in annoyance.

"Trouble in geeky paradise?" Booth questioned

"Daisy wants me to spend Christmas with her family, but they're a  
nightmare! Her dads an alcoholic, her mother is the ultimate control freak; you  
can't put a glass down for three seconds in that house without it being whipped  
away and washed, her grandmother has the strangest form of dementure I've ever  
seen and believes that I am a pool Boy called Hugo, who apparently worked for  
her in 1962 and to top it all off last time we were there Daisy got very drunk  
and explained to all her cousins in detail some of our more intimate sexual  
moments and now I can't look any of them in the face, I need to arrange for us  
to do something else to get me out of it!"

Booth felt an extreme empathy for the younger man he knew of old how hard in-laws  
could make your life; Rebecca's father had always hated Booth and had told him  
so in no uncertain terms, it had made much of his relationship very difficult.  
An idea suddenly dawned on him.

"Well how about you and Daisy come to our place for Christmas dinner?"  
Sweets looked touched,

"Really? You would invite us into your home to share your daughters first  
Christmas with you?"

"Of course we can swap presents and have dinner together, but if Daisy  
gets drunk you are duty bound to gag her I do not want my son to learn about  
your sex life" Sweets nodded enthusiastically and shook Booths hand.

"Oh thank you Booth! I'll call her as soon as you've gone" there was  
a comfortable silence for a moment. Booth felt good for helping Sweets, Sweets  
felt an unfathomable level of gratitude. Finally Sweets spoke,

"Anyway you wanted me?"

"Oh yes there has been an arrest of a flasher he seems to match your  
profile for the predator break ins I need you to look into it"

"Ok definitely, give me about half an hour"

That night Brennan sat working at her laptop, as Booth came down the stairs  
from bathing Christine she quickly snapped the lid closed and sat down next to  
him on the couch, lifting up his arm and wrapping it around her shoulder.

"Oh Booth" she said conversationally "I hope you don't mind but  
I have invited Angela, Hodgins and Michael to spend Christmas day with us"  
Booth smiled

"That's brilliant, as Much as I love Pops and your Dad we'll need some adult  
conversation when they doze off after Christmas dinner! But oh god I forgot I  
had a mad moment of compassion earlier, I've invited Sweets and Daisy to join  
us!"

"What do you mean mad moment of compassion"

"Daisy wanted him to go to her family's place for Christmas day and from  
what he said they are horrible, I felt sorry for him, I know how it feels to  
have in-laws that don't like you and he needed a way to get out of it without  
hurting Daisy"

Although she found Daisy incredibly annoying, she as ever felt touched by  
Booth's selfless caring nature.

"I can understand that Booth and it will be nice to have lots of people  
here, I have always wanted to have big family Christmases" Booth smiled at  
his lover

"Well my love, if you want big family Christmases, that is what we shall  
have, we may need to get a second table for Christmas dinner" Brennan  
laughed

"To fit it in we may have to move the tree first!" they both looked  
at the huge tree bowing under the weight of Parker's over enthusiastic  
decorating,

"How about asking Angela if we can borrow her kitchen set and linking the  
two together"

"Great idea Bones I can pinch a SOCO van to bring it here and take it  
back, one of the techs owes me a favour"

**...**

**Probably in reality B&B would have asked eachother first about their guestd but the story didn't flow as well that way :)**


	4. December 10th

"Parker stop that you'll fall and hurt yourself"

Bones shouted as Parker ran through the busy street, using his trainers to skid on the icy ground, the previous nights snowfall had made the ground deadly and Bones could just see Parker careening into someone and causing a lot of damage, Parker turned

"Sorry Mom, I'm just really excited about taking Christine to see Santa"

Parker's cheeks reddened when he realised he had called her Mom but the brief smile on Brennan's face told him it was ok,

"Come on son" Booth shouted "Come and walk with us for now, we'll go for a walk down to the woods later and you can skid about 'til your heart's content" Parker beamed at his father and ran back to them skidding accidentally once more between Bones and Angela as he overshot his destination.  
They waited for 40 minutes in the queue of screaming sulking generally misbehaving children all in the name of Santa Claus, Parker was quite happy to talk to Hodgins about which bugs he could find where in the woods since it snowed - he would be looking for them later, Booth cringed, all the years of death and guts and yet still it was insects that creeped him out the most well after clowns of course, and now he'd spend the afternoon helping Parker to look for them. Michael had decided he was bored of his pushchair and after unsuccessfully climbing out decided to scream and rock himself until the chair practically tipped over, whilst Christine happily chewed on the foot of her activity Santa stopping occasionally to giggle at the funny noises it made. Finally they reached the front of the queue,

"Dad, Dad can I take Christine and Michael in please?"

"Well you can go in with your sister but ask Angela and Jack if you can go in with Michael"

"Angela? Jack? Can I please?"

"Of course Buddy" Hodgins smiled lifting Michaels squirming form from the pushchair. "Let's roll" Angela and Brennan both dug out their cameras and parked the buggies up next to two very smiley elves.  
In the grotto sat a very jovial Santa with a very real and rather impressive beard, on seeing Parker his smile widened,

"Ho Ho Ho, who do we have here then?" Parker perched on his right leg holding onto his sister whilst Hodgins sat Michael on the Santa's left leg, both younger children were hypnotised by the twinkling fairy lights as Parker spoke,

"Well I'm Parker Booth and this is my sister Christine Booth and this is our friend Michael Hodgins"

"So Parker have you been a good boy this year?"

"Yes Santa"

"So if you've been a good boy what would you like for Christmas?" Parker beckoned the Santa closer and whispered in his ear, the Santa chuckled

"Well Parker, Santa will see what he can do"

"And Santa as Christine and Michael can't speak, I think Christine would like the rock and ride rocking horse we saw at the toy store and Michael would like the electric ride on car, the blue and yellow one"

Angela and Brennan winked at each other as they heard this and they registered the idea for when they went shopping.  
Although the excited parents had taken hundreds of pictures in the last few minute the photography elf entered and took three or four photographs of the three children on Santa's knee each with a small wrapped gift that parker balanced on his free leg.

As the fathers took the three children out of the grotto to go on the Santa's sleigh ride the elf asked the mothers "prints or discs?"  
"Discs" they said in unison.  
"Ok if you want to pay at the counter they'll be about 10 minutes, who is Parker's mom?" although it was technically incorrect Brennan raised her hand "Ok Mrs Booth you are ticket 259 and Mrs Hodgins is it?" Angela nodded "you're ticket 260"  
As they waited for their pictures the 10 minutes turned to 15 and Brennan was about to go and complain when they heard a shout behind them  
"Dr Brennan, Agent Booth Hey!" Brennan smiled at Sweets smiling face in his floppy wool hat with the ear flaps the smile spreading wider when he spotted Angela. Her smile diminished when she saw Daisy's over the top waving, grinning form running in her direction  
"Oh My God, well not my because I'm a scientologist and don't believe in God, but still Oh My God I cannot believe you have invited us to spend Christmas with you, when Lancelot told me I couldn't stop myself from jumping up and down and screaming"  
To prove a point she did just that, causing everyone in the vicinity to stop dead in their tracks and stare at her and causing Sweets to blush poppy red and stare intently at his sneakers.  
"Booth and Hodgins!" a smiley elf held up two disc wallets she leant towards Brennan "There's a message for Parker from Santa inside." Brennan thanked the elf and walked back to the group  
"Where did Hodgins take Parker?"  
"To that new gadget shop that sells the science and techy stuff"  
"That was nice of him to keep Parker entertained for us"  
"Don't you believe it sweetie! He wanted to go in there himself and get a catalogue so he can show me what he wants!"  
There conversation was cut short by Parker running over  
"Bones, Dad look who we found in the cool stuff shop."  
Parker grinned as he proffered forward Cam's hand like a precious gift, Cam laughed and greeted the team, hand in hand behind her Michelle and Finn waved.  
As they chatted Daisy inevitably inserted her foot very firmly in her mouth,

"So are you guys joining us at Dr Brennan's for Christmas dinner? We're all going to be there" Cam looked confused and Brennan shot Daisy a look that could kill, she was fond of her boss and her adopted daughter and had even gained a strange affection for Finn Abanathy one of her interns and Michelle's boyfriend, who's hillbilly colloquialisms, whilst often completely impossible to understand, we're also rather endearing. On the other hand the house was going to be full to bursting as it was and now they had no polite choice but to invite them, thankfully Booth did the talking so she did not have to worry about her annoyance showing.  
"Yep it's Christmas at ours this year, you're more than welcome to join us, all three of you"  
They accepted the invitation readily, Cam saying she would do anything to avoid cooking and Michelle offering to bake a Christmas cake as a thank you and with that it was Christmas dinner for fourteen at the Booth household.

**...**


	5. December 15th

Parker sat on his bed and re read the letter from Santa for the dozenth time, he was right no amount of wishing could make this gift he had to ask for it. He took a deep breath and made his way down the stairs.  
"Dad, Temperance, can I talk to you please" Booth looked worried, wiping his hands on a tea towel he joined his son on the sofa.  
"What's up sport?" he asked  
"When we went to visit Santa, he wrote me a letter, he told me that for him to work his magic I had to be brave enough to tell you something" he took a deep breath "So here goes, Dad, Temperance, I want to live with you and Christine"  
They both gasped, taken aback by the frank statement, suddenly Booth panicked, why did he want to live with them? What was Rebecca doing to his son, he tried to suppress his rising panic as he spoke,  
"Why son?"  
"Because you love me!"  
"Oh don't be silly Parker your Mom loves you"  
"Really?" he sighed "Then why do I spend 90% of my time with a sitter whilst she goes out drinking with her boyfriend? When I'm here I do chores to help out, when I'm at home I clean the house because she can't be bothered. When I was little and I was cute she used to show me off to her new boyfriends and they'd try to impress her by playing catch with me now I'm older she doesn't want me there I get in the way. She doesn't care about me, if she did she wouldn't have left the country over Christmas, I told her I didn't want her to go and she told me she didn't care, she said she had given up to much for me as it was and she was going to spend her first enjoyable Christmas for the last 11 years in England with Roger" Parker broke down crying in his father's arms Booth's jaw dropped open, he hadn't known any of this, hadn't even suspected it. Bones took a breath and spoke,  
"Parker we would love to have you live here, you know that, but first we need to talk about it together, then we need to speak to your mother she may not be happy about this" Parker's jaw set defiantly  
"She's not my mother, you are! You care about me" despite the horrible circumstances, she felt her heart warm as he said this. Parker took a deep breath, "what do we need to talk about?" Booth kissed the top of his sons head, "Don't worry about that yet, first you calm down, do you want some chocolate milk?" Parker nodded as his father stood up and as Booth walked into the kitchen Parker cuddled into Brennan's chest. "What do we need to talk about Bones?" he whispered she looked at him and knew he was worried,  
"Well Parker if you live with us, we will be a bit different, we won't go out all the time like we do now because we will be at work and you will have school and we can't afford to go out every day of the week."  
Parker nodded in understanding, "I know that but I don't mind, I like it when we just talk and when you tell me about smart stuff and dad doesn't understand so u have to tell him again" Booth walked into the room placing three glasses of chocolate milk, two regular, one soy-milk on the table.  
"Hey don't be cheeky you!"  
Parker beamed an innocent smile in his dad's direction as Booth scooped Christine out of her bouncer and sat her on his lap, hoping Bones hadn't noticed that the bottle he had given her also contained chocolate milk, unfortunately for Booth she had.  
"Booth you shouldn't give her chocolate milk she's too young!"  
"Oh come on Bones, it's half a scoop of powder in a whole bottle of milk! And she likes it don't you Christine?"  
"Yes Booth she may enjoy it but in children under 12 months the consumption of chocolate and sweets can cause fussiness towards healthier and unsugared Foods, which is often linked to childhood obesity." between them Parker was laughing Uncontrollably "See Dad this is what I was talking about"  
Two hours later the family sat on the sofa, Christine sleeping on her mother's lap, a pizza box balanced on Parker's contained 3 uneaten slices that they were all to full to consume.  
"So" Booth said "it is decided when you move in we will still have take out once a month and even though u don't mind Bones' weird veggi stuff you still want meat at least twice a week"  
"Agreed dad!" they shook hands to seal the deal.  
"And" Brennan continued a serious note in her voice, "we will talk to your mother about it when she returns in the New Year so as not to spoil anyone's holidays and you must be aware she may not be happy with this turn of events and it could be a difficult time to work through" Parker gave a sombre nod before his bright eyes connected with Brennan's.  
"Bones" he whispered,  
"Yes Parker Sweetheart, what is it?"  
"Can I call you Mom?"

Brennan gasped dumb-struck at the question and squeezed Parkers small hand in hers, her voice caught in her throat as she spoke.

"Of course Parker, if that's what you want" He beamed at her.

"It's what I want Mom!" a tear ran down her face as she embraced him.

**...**

**I know this chapter is a bit out there but I always thought that Booth should have custody of Parker so I made it happen, I didn't want to make it magically easy though so I left it open ended.**


	6. December 24th

Angela leant on the kitchen counter whilst Brennan mixed up hot chocolate, frothing the milk in a small pan. A clatter caught both of their attention causing them to spin around a train of milk flying off of the end of the whisk and spattering the floor. They looked at Hodgins who was man handling one end of a table in and out of the door frame Brennan shook her head and turned to Angela.

"I told them both the table would not fit through the door, the proportions are not correct for the table fitting when you take into consideration the angle the door opens to combined with the porch swings position and the position of the coat rack. So why must they insist on trying it would be much simpler to go round to the yard and in through the French doors"

"They're men Honey they have to try these stupid things, you didn't see them at the apartment when they realised the elevators weren't working. I'm just glad that we have big stairwells or that could have been disastrous!" She glanced to where Michael and Christine sat in the play pen in the den, both sat up and intently concentrating on trying to put shapes into the correct holes on a giant cube "Where's Parker anyway I've not seen him since we got here?!

"He took a roll of wrapping paper from my closet a little while ago and has banned us from his room so I should assume he has a gift for us"

"Awww that's really sweet bless him"

There was a small clunk from the back of the room as Pops stepped in dragging his pull along suitcase behind him.

"Those two do realise there is no way in hell that table's fitting through that doorway right?"

"I have told them this Hank but they are determined it will"

"More fool them, and what have I told you before about calling me Hank, you're family now it's Pops. Now come here and give an old man a hug"

Brennan stepped forward into his embrace happily and Angela took over pouring steaming hot milk into five cups before lifting a sixth from the cupboard and filling that too.

"You're just in time for cocoa Ha... Pops" She corrected herself before shouting up the stair, "Parker, Pops is here and we've made Cocoa!"

On hearing the call to his son the elder of the two Booth's head poked through the door.

"Oh Pops I didn't realise you were here already!" Booth climbed over the table that was firmly wedged half way into the house.

"That's because you were fighting a losing battle with that table, now suck up your ego, listen to the woman you love and bring that table in through those doors there where it will fit! Then come and sit with your family and have some Cocoa" The child that still lurked with in Booth listened obediently to his grandfather and walked back to Hodgins his head hung in slight embarrassment as a sign of camaraderie Hodgins said nothing merely gave a slight nod and lifted his end of the table out of the front door. By the time they had manoeuvred the table around the side of the house, Parker was downstairs and talking excitedly to his great grandfather about who was coming over the next day, Hodgins sat down on one of the chairs they had brought in from the van, whilst Booth sat on the floor his back against the sofa between Bones and Parkers legs, from here he could see his daughter was fast asleep in the playpen whilst Michael next to her fought to stay awake.

"Ok, the tables in I'll move everything around in a bit" he surveyed the room and wondered how on earth he was going to fit everything and his family into the room the next day, now the second table was in the kitchen was completely inaccessible, his mind began a long and infuriating game of Tetris and his brow furrowed in confusion, Brennan registered this look and leant forward whispering in his ear,

"Don't worry it will be tight but the dimensions of the room are more than adequate to fit all of the furniture in I have already calculated it" Booth shook his head and smirked how could she know that for definite the table had been in the room less than five minutes, she had told him before that women's special awareness was lacking compared to a man's due to how their brains were wired, it was at times like this that he always wanted to tell her she was half man! Parker's voice broke his train of thought.

"Mom, Dad, I've set up the camp bed in Christine's room so Pops can sleep in mine, but I'm not quite sure where to hang my stocking"

Pop's eyebrows rose at Parker's use of the word Mom but decided that asking in front of Parker would be insensitive instead he suggested,

"Well how about hanging it on the end of Christine's Crib next to hers I'm sure Santa will work out one is yours"

Booth glanced up at the clock before he spoke, "That's a great Idea Pops and speaking of Santa it's about time some of us were getting to bed or he won't have time to bring your presents before you wake up at half past four to open them" A grin spread across Parkers face,

"I can open my presents at half four?" Booth suddenly realised his mistake.

"Oh No! Not a chance buddy! You are not opening your stocking before five thirty or you will have a very tired Mom and Dad all day!"

A slight pout played on his lips and then he poked the tip of his tongue out at his father, who returned a huge raspberry before pouncing on the boy and tickling him mercilessly. Angela laughed as she got to her feet and retrieved her sleeping son from the play pen.

"Well guys we'd better get home too, we need to make sure Michael's in bed before Santa arrives"

**...**

**This is possibly my favourite chapter as I have witnessed the insanity of men trying to get a to large piece of furnature through a two small door hole!**

**xx**


	7. December 25th

Booth rolled over bleary eyed and focussed with some difficulty at the glowing red digits on the clock on his bed side table 05:27, after not getting to bed until 01:30 having moved the tables into a usable shape and piling the presents under the tree and now less than four hours later he was awake. Brennan stirred,

"Booth are you awake?" he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her tenderly.

"Yes I'm awake Bones, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas Booth!" she kissed him again, "Am I right in believing we are awake before the children?"

"That we are, My Darling, that we are!" a slow smile spread across Brennan's face as she kissed the man she loved, tongues entwined ardently and her thighs wrapped around his. At that moment a piercing wail broke them apart they groaned.

"I'm sure that child has an in built sex alarm!"

"Booth, you know that theory is completely unfounded, a child cannot detect intercourse"

Booth smirked at her literal interpretation as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and was about to go to his daughters aid when Parker's voice came over the baby monitor,

_"Merry Christmas Christine, look Santa has been"_

Booth and Brennan Padded across the landing and stood silently in the door way watching as Parker lifted the now quietly cooing Christine from her crib and showed her the two full stockings pointing at the one with pink wrapped presents and letting her know that that one was hers and the blue presents were his. It was at this moment that Brennan realised that despite the fact colouring girls' things pink and boys' things blue was anthropologically incorrect for a child it made things easier to differentiate. Pops shuffled slowly in between the couple stood in the door way and watched his great grandchildren for a moment, Parker realised that he was being watched and turned to the doorway seeing his family stood there he ran to them.

"Mom, Dad, Pops, Merry Christmas, look Santa's been can we open our presents? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Parker was jumping up and down excitedly, his infant sister in his arms highly amused by the motion giggled and grabbed at Parkers' curls.

"Wow calm down buddy, first things first, your sister needs a fresh diaper and I need some fresh coffee, then you can open your stockings the presents under the tree wait until everyone gets here."

Parker pouted just perceivably before nodding and handing Christine to his father and running from the room to get some juice. Less than 20 minutes later the family reconvened in the nursery Pop's sat in the rocker sipping his coffee, Brennan had sat Christine in her bouncer before laying on the camp bed, propped up on one elbow and watching her little family, admiring how perfect her life had become in 12 short months, she tucked her legs up to allow Booth to sit at the Bottom of the camp bed and watched as her children dug through their stockings leaving a mound of presents to one side of them and wrapping paper to the other. None of the presents in their stockings were huge, just socks and vests, teddies for Christine and new school supplies for Parker but when they were done Parker still embraced his parents saying how lucky he was and thanking them.

"But Parker" Temperance began for the first time in her life enjoying the deception of Santa Claus "Santa gave you your presents not us" Parker winked at his mother "Yes Mom but you send them to him and I only get them if I'm good I know how it works" Booth and Brennan smiled at each other allowing Parker his innocence and applauding his maturity simultaneously

"Dang buddy, you caught us out!" Booth laughed ruffling his sons hair, laughing more when he noticed his daughter completely ignoring the new teething ring that was inches from her palm was munching happily on a ball of wrapping paper, it was true don't buy babies presents, just give them the box and the wrapping paper.

After clearing the nursery floor, which took surprisingly longer than they expected it to the family dressed and ate breakfast, it was half past eight and time to start preparing a marathon Christmas meal before their guests started to arrive.

"Ok so 4 hours twenty to cook the bird, plus and extra twenty minutes for the stuffing and half an hour for it to rest that mean's if we're eating at three I need to put this Beast in the oven at..." Booth paused calculating the time in his head, Brennan cut in,

"Nine fifty, that should give adequate cooking time, until then you can help me prepare vegetables, Pops seems quite content to look after the children" They looked into the lounge area where Christine was perched on Pops' lap hypnotised by the sparkling lights and mountain of gifts beneath the tree whilst Parker rattled each present in turn taking a guess at what was inside regardless of if the gift was for him or not.

Just as Booth was man handling the bacon covered bird into the oven the doorbell rang, Max stood on the doorstep laden down with gifts, dressed in a red Christmas sweater with a large Rudolph on the front.

"Merry Christmas one and all" He smiled, Brennan remembered the last time she had seen that smile, Christmas morning when she was fourteen, she felt a sadness then, a longing to see her mother, to talk to her, she forced this sadness down, locked it away with thousands of other feelings she refused to allow herself to feel and embraced her father.

"Merry Christmas Dad, where on earth did you get that..." She dug through her mind for a word other that atrocious "...unique sweater"

"Christmas craft fair at the mall, I thought I should make the effort"

Chatter filled the room as Max placed his gifts under the tree and their other guests arrived and the Eggnog began to flow, with a special alcohol free version for Parker. It took much longer than expected for all the gifts to be unwrapped it had taken four hours and Brennan had needed to leave the room several times to put potatoes, vegetables and other food on to cook, finally at 2.30pm only two small carefully wrapped packages remained under the tree Parker grabbed them eagerly and ran to his parents, tripping through a sea of wrapping paper and ribbon.

"Mom, Dad, these are for you." Brennan and Booth took the small parcels and unwrapped them carefully looking between each other and their son. They slipped two Bracelet boxes into their hands confusion spreading across their faces as they saw the Jewellers Crest, there was a gentle click as they opened the boxes and gasped, inside were matching identity bracelets on the top was Engraved 'Mom' and 'Dad' either side of interlocking hearts Brennan picked the bracelet up and turned it over admiring it, on the back 'Christine' and 'Parker' were either side of the matching interlocking hearts.

"Parker these are beautiful" Brennan Gasped

"Where did you get the money for these Son" Booth new that these cost way more than his allowance could ever afford.

"Grandpa Max lent me the money, I'm paying him back five dollars a week" He Smiled at Max Brennan went to berate her father for lending parker money he should be spending on himself, Parker stopped her before she could.

"Mom, don't tell Grandpa off, you and Dad have given me everything I ever wanted this Christmas this year, you've given me you and you've given me Christine I can never give you something like that but I can give you my love and I can give you something to show my love, I love you Mom and Dad"

The family embraced, everyone around them sharing in this moment, the pure love that sat in that room embracing the true spirit of Christmas.

At four o clock they finally sat down to eat despite Brennan's exact timings she had not accounted for the fact that nothing ever cooks according to the packet instructions, especially when you were entertaining. Booth walked in carrying the perfectly golden bird and everyone applauded, ooh's and aah's being drawn as the smell filled their nostrils. As the bird was carved and plates were filled the chatter continued and everyone felt truly happy, here they were a family, there was no crime, no murders to catch just love and friendship, Brennan smiled and took a deep breath before getting to her feet, tapping the rim of her wine glass with her fork.

"Errm... Hi everyone... thank you all for coming to spend this very special Christmas with Booth, myself and our children" The assembled guests cheered at this statement, a slightly tipsy Angela wooted and shouted 'About time!'

"Thank you Angela and yes I agree with your statement, well I am not very good at giving speeches regarding emotional situations, as you all know I am much better with facts so I will make this quick" with this statement she turned to Booth and got down on one knee, everyone gasped,

"Booth, I have so much to thank you for, since we became partners you have shown me so much, you have taught me to love, you have broken away my imperviousness and made me strong, something which I could never have done alone. So Seeley Booth..." She pulled a small box from her pocket and opened it for him to see "Will You Marry Me?" Brennan held her breath for what felt like an eternity as she waited for his reply, he smiled broadly leant forward and kissed her ardently "Yes, Temperance, yes I'll marry you!" Everyone in the room was on their feet clapping and cheering as they kissed again, everyone crowded forward to embrace the happy couple and  
after 10 minutes of kissing, hugging and hand shaking someone shouted 'speech, speech!' and all eyes turned to Booth, he looked lost for words for a few seconds before pulling Brennan, who was holding Christine in her arms to one side him and Parker to the other, he raised his glass in the air his response short and simple.

"Merry Christmas everyone, To family!"

**...**

**I hope you all enjoyed Merry Xmas everyone xxx**


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